Round 1 Eels V Broncos

[Gary Gutful]

Just to clarify, I am not propositioning anybody to put their tongue anywhere near my cheek.

 

[Swiftstylez]

You are up early this morning considering #gaymeon

 

[Gary Gutful]

I haven't gone to bed yet.

 

[Swiftstylez]

Here is some material for your night cap

 

[Gary Gutful]

Not as good looking as Hagan.

 

[Swiftstylez]

Seriously though I agree that some people cross the line but it's part and parcel of being a professional sports person and I assume they are told as players to seperate criticism of their performance from them personally. I don't think people are death riding, I would love Kelly to become a late blooming Peter Sterling and prove everyone wrong. You however only get so many chances.

Hagan was an example of a good coach that was deathridden.

 

[hindy111]

Guys breaking news: criticising a particular player is now off limits, in particular the halfback. All eels fans from the past three decades are to be charged after the fact with this dispicable crime. Gary gutful and Poo Pop will get their halos engraved with the slogan: "there is no 'I' in team". May everyone get a participation trophy for performing however they want at the highest level.

What would of you done? Played Cornish? It was a 50-50 decision.Coach went with Kelly.
We all know Kellys limits. I was hoping he had one of his better games.He however did not. If he does come in again due to injuries i hope he does have one of his better games!

 

[Swiftstylez]

What would of you done? Played Cornish? It was a 50-50 decision.Coach went with Kelly.
We all know Kellys limits. I was hoping he had one of his better games.He however did not. If he does come in again due to injuries i hope he does have one of his better games!

The expectation is a loss without Foran against the better teams with current depth. Cornish gets the next chance imo

 

[Swiftstylez]

It disturbed me how casually the broncos read us in the 2nd half, they didn't shift out of training mode and that was pretty telling. It was very mechanical and boring. Unfortunate but without halves expected.

 

[Delboy]

I think the issue that fans find reasonably unacceptable, is that to the vast majority, Kelly does not cut it as an NRL player and never will

To see him constantly selected really makes the fans gulp, overall there is a real belief that another player should have been brought to the club to provide an alternative. For instance the Raiders have Sam Williams, most others have at least moved to replace underperforming back ups. Kelly seems to be a non moveable favourite of th coach and it is now a painful selection who generally leaves us shaking our heads with slow, ponderous decisions and no running game to challenge the line. As someone said, if you want a 7 that tackles , put a player like Ken Edwards there

Just my humble opinion on the ongoing debate

 

[The Phelan Folly]

Haha - the seasons one game in and fatmerkin has his big girls blouse on already. Go hard, son.

 

[Gary Gutful]

I think the issue that fans find reasonably unacceptable, is that to the vast majority, Kelly does not cut it as an NRL player and never will

To see him constantly selected really makes the fans gulp, overall there is a real belief that another player should have been brought to the club to provide an alternative. For instance the Raiders have Sam Williams, most others have at least moved to replace underperforming back ups. Kelly seems to be a non moveable favourite of th coach and it is now a painful selection who generally leaves us shaking our heads with slow, ponderous decisions and no running game to challenge the line. As someone said, if you want a 7 that tackles , put a player like Ken Edwards there

Just my humble opinion on the ongoing debate

Yeah, mate. I get that.

Part of me would like to see Cornish picked next time we are without Foran just to see how he goes. But hopefully Foran stays fit most of the year and we don't see an awful lot of Kelly or Cornish.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

I think the issue that fans find reasonably unacceptable, is that to the vast majority, Kelly does not cut it as an NRL player and never will

To see him constantly selected really makes the fans gulp, overall there is a real belief that another player should have been brought to the club to provide an alternative. For instance the Raiders have Sam Williams, most others have at least moved to replace underperforming back ups. Kelly seems to be a non moveable favourite of th coach and it is now a painful selection who generally leaves us shaking our heads with slow, ponderous decisions and no running game to challenge the line. As someone said, if you want a 7 that tackles , put a player like Ken Edwards there

Just my humble opinion on the ongoing debate

I can your point about Kelly, but Edwards aren't really an option. If he played in the halves, who ever was his partner would be smash on the 5th and look pretty shitty as Edwards has no long kicking game.

 

[yy_cheng]

To anyone who thinks having a better half isn't the answer ask yourself this: why should we be any better this season? The team isn't drastically different on the whole.
.

eh?

Gordon, Jennings, Gutherson, Scott, Edwards & Pritchard (mainly injured in the past).

It is quite different. You can even throw in Alvaro because he hasnt been there that long

 

[yy_cheng]

The questions is how long do we give Kelly.

He has a track record here, we've seen what he can do or can't do.

Do you give he 3 games?

I don't have an issue picking him in the last game, but I think he should now be dropped down the pecking order in the backup queue.

All this talk about Gordon being the link man in training, there is an option of Gutho at 1 and Buretta at 2 and Gordon at 6.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

He is only a scapegoat if, in fact, he isn't to blame.

The fact that he is useless in FG probably, can't direct play, run or kick AND has a penchant for either passing 5m behind the runners to the turf or into the stands on the full may just indicate that he isn't thr scapegoat.
Do you honestly think Cornish could have done worse? 5% more creative spark and we might have jagged a try and got into the game.

How much worse could Cornish's defence be and still be worth that extra 5% attacking spark?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I rate Jnr.He is our best prospect as a front rower. But on Thursday in attack Mannah-terepo and Jnr had the same hit up. Mannah and terepo made 20 extra meters with their runs
Alvaro had one less run and made 2 less meters then JNR

People remember the 2 good runs Jnr makes that knock a guy over.And sometimes these runs can change momentum of a game. But Jnr is a huge risk on anything over $350K . Even that is a stretch. He is slow to get up once makes a tackle and good hookers notice this.He also leave big gaps in defense. The second try broncos scored most forwards in Jnrs position would of tackled oates or atleast slowed him up.Jnr was just to SLOW.
You need output and value for $$$. Why pay 400k for junior if can pick up a gower -terepo -alvaro for 150k? Sure Jnr is a better player ( in attack ) but are those two good runs a game worth that extra money?

I might be harsh but a guy like him should be posting 120mtrs + a game.

I would much rather young forwards of RGC or Jake Tribjovic..... They are putting up 120+ mtrs every game.

Yep. Paulo comes up with memorable moments and they go straight to the wank bank so we remember them. But his consistency of output is laughable. The proof of what he doesn't do is only really apparent in the stats. And of course 'stats prove nothing' so around we go.

 

[Gronk]

Agreed. I'm glad it wasn't a penalty fest like the trial against Penrith.

Yeah I was pleasantly surprised AND how good is the bunker ? :thumn

 

[Delboy]

Pou, watch the game again, Kelly moves inside to stay on the shoulders of the middle forwards he doesn't miss tackles as he hides as much as possible, he doesn't read the game well and is very slow in sliding to support the outside backs
'
I understand he is a backup, but he has been a back up for 3 seasons and hasn't offered much, We haven't seen Cornish for instance in our set up, it may possibly suit him more. His kicking game , running game and passing seem far superior to Kelly. He is well worth a chance or alternately, give an even younger prospect a go, Kelly is history and if my thoughts that he was resigned purely to assist with cap management after last years games from the second tier cap, we would have done better to chase another player, he is not going to give you anything resembling NRL standard

Don't dislike the player, just don't want him in the side, seen enopuhg over 3 seasons to be confident he doesn't cut it

 

[Poupou Escobar]

He is spot on as usual.

It appears as though people always need someone to blame for a loss when often it is as a result of poor performances by many people. Kelly was the whipping boy after Round 1.

I think people are conflating the problem with the symptom. A major reason we lost is because our $1M+ halfback and captain was out. A symptom of that is that we had an $85k backup in his place. So because we can't blame Foran for being out (the poor bastard was injured), but we still have to blame someone, the natural target is the backup.

Disclaimer: all values are estimates